(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an inertial locking connector, which engages connectors with each other by using the inertia force and, more specifically, to an inertial locking connector, which can appropriate a known non-inertial locking connector for one of a pair of the connectors.
(2) Description of the Related Art
FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a conventional inertial locking connector.
The conventional inertial locking connector consists of a male connector 44, which receives female terminals 43 in its block-shaped housing 42 (a part for receiving terminals) inside a hood part 41, and a female connector 47, in which tabs of male terminals 46 are protruded in a connector engaging chamber 45 mating with the housing 42. In this specification, a connector having the block-shaped housing 42 is defined as a male connector, while a connector having the connector engaging chamber 45 is defined as a female connector.
A connector housing of the male connector 44 consists of the outside hood part 41 and the inner housing 42, which are integrally molded using synthetic resin. A flexible locking arm 50 is integrally formed with an upper wall 48 of the inner housing 42 through a holding part 49, which is situated at the middle of the length direction of the locking arm 50. The front half of the locking arm 50 is located inside of the hood part 41, while an operating part 51 of the rear half of the locking arm 50 is exposed outward from an opening 52 of the hood part 41.
A locking projection 53 is formed downwardly at a front end of the locking arm 50 and a front end face 53a of the locking projection 53 is an abutting face, which is formed approximately perpendicular or inclined facing front with regard to the female connector 47. There is provided a terminal receiving chamber 54 in the inner housing 42, in which a female terminal 43 having wires is received. The female terminal 43 has a box-shaped electric contact part (indicated by the abbreviation numeral 43) having a resilient contact piece (not shown in the figure) therein, which mates with the tab of male terminal 46, and a solderless contact part 56, to which a wire 55 is connected and fixed. A hole at the central part of the electric contact part (43) of the female terminal 43 is locked by a flexible locking lance 57.
A waterproof rubber stopper 58 is inserted on the wire 55, while the outer periphery of the waterproof rubber stopper 58 adheres closely to the rear inner surface of the terminal receiving chamber 54. A waterproof packing 59 for the female connector 47 is provided on the outer base of the inner housing 42.
In the female connector 47, a pair of guide walls 62 for the locking arm 50 are formed at both sides on an opper wall 61 of the connector housing 60, which forms the connector engaging chamber 45, while an engaging projection 63 engaging with the locking projection 53 is formed between a pair of the guide walls 62. The engaging projection 63 has a front end face (abutting face) 63a, which faces the front end face 53a of the locking projection 53 and is inclined a little backward, and a perpendicular rear end face (engaging face) 63b, which engages with a rear end face (locking face) 53b of the locking projection 53.
The tab at the front half of the male terminal 46 protrudes in the connector engaging chamber 45, while the rear half of the male terminal 46 is received into a terminal receiving chamber (not shown in the figure) of the connector housing 60 and continues to a wire (not shown in the figure). Otherwise, the connector housing 60 is integrally formed with an instrument and the like, and one side of the plate-shaped male terminal 46 that has a tab at an oppsite side thereof continues to a busbar and the like at the instrument side.
When an operator starts to fit the connecors 44 and 47 to each other starting from the state shown in FIG. 9, both ends of the male and female terminals, 46 and 43, respectively, come into light contact with each other and at the same time the front end face 53a of the locking projection 53 of the locking arm 50 strongly abuts against the front end face 63a of the engaging projection 63. Then, the operator pushes both connectors 44 and 47 in the engaging direction with a strong force, resulting in that the front end face 53a of the locking projection 53 slides upward along the front end face 63a of the engaging projection 63 so as to bend the locking arm 50, the abutting between both projections 53 and 63 is released, and both connectos 44 and 47 are engaged with each other by force with the aid of the inertia force thereof. When the locking projection 53 climbs over the engaging projection 63, the locking arm 50 restores to the original state with shifting downward and the rear end face 53b of the locking projection 53 abuts against the rear end face 63b of the engaging projection 63.
Thereby, both connectors 44 and 47 are locked together, preventing both connectors from coming off abruptly. This connector engagement using the inertia force thereof exhibits a secure engaging force even when an insertion force of the male or female terminal (46 or 43) is large (especially when the number of the terminals is large) and when the inner periphery of the connector housing 60 adheres closely to the outer periphery of the waterproof packing 59.
However, according to the structure of the conventional inertial locking connector, when the operator uses an insufficient force to fit the connecors 44 and 47 to each other, there is the possibility that both connectors stop staying in half engaged condition (i.e. incomplete engaged condition) in a state that the locking projection 53 of the locking arm 50 of the connector 44 climbs on the engaging projection 63 of the connector 47. In this case, since both terminals 46 and 43 are inserted by as long as about half of the regular stroke, both connectors 44 are tentatively held with each other without coming off, therefore there is the possibility that the operator judges that both connectors are completely engaged with each other and advances it to the next process.
Further, not to mention the locking arm 50, the engaging projection 63 needs a machining to enlarge the incline of the front end face 63a for the purpose of the inertial locking, forcing both connectors 44 and 47 to be exclusively manufactured as the inertial locking parts. Furthermore, a normal connector, which does not implement the inertial locking, can be neither appropriated nor compatible with the inertial locking part, causing an uneconomical situation. Furthermore, since the rear end face 53b of the locking projection 53 slides against the rear end face 63b of the engaging projection 63 with a strong force upon the engagement of the connectors, when the engaging and coming off operations are implemented repeatedly, each projection 53 or 63 is worn down and deformed, causing the possibility that the locking force deteriorates and that a large inertial force cannot be obtained, that is, the inertial locking is not implemented.
It is therefore an objective of the present invention to solve the above problem and to provide an inertial locking connector, by which the incomplete engagement of the connectors due to that the locking projection climbs on the engaging projection to stop there is prevented from occurring, and the appropriation and compatibility of the connector are improved, and the deterioration in the inertial force and the locking force due to the deformation and wear of the locking and engaging projections are prevented from occurring.
In order to attain the above objective, a first aspect of the present invention is to provide an inertial locking connector comprising: a first connector housing provided with a locking arm having a locking projection; and a second connector housing provided with an engaging projection, which engages with the locking projection, wherein upon engaging of the first and second connecor housings, a front end face of the locking projection is situated facing a perpendicular front end face of the second connector housing and the front end face of the locking projection abuts against the front end face of the second connector housing.
The front end face of the locking projection is formed inclined by an appropriate angle equal to or less than 90xc2x0 in response to the magnitude of the inertia force.
There is provided a distance between the front end face of the second connector housing and the engaging projection thereof for the locking projection to slide.
Upon engaging of the first and second connecor housings, the locking projection climbs over the engaging projection to complete the engagement between the locking projection and the engaging projection, with the locking arm being bent.
According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the locking projection of the locking arm of the first connector housing abuts against the front end face of the second connector housing, when an operator presses both connector housings in the engaging direction thereof with a strong force, the locking arm is bent and at the same time the inertia force is exhibitted in the engaging direction of the connectors, the locking projection of the locking arm advances powerfully toward the engaging projection situated more rear compared to the front end face of the second connector housing. Therefore, there is no possibility that both connectors stop staying in half engaged condition (i.e. incomplete engaged condition) in a state that the locking projection of the locking arm of the first connector climbs on the engaging projection of the second connector, thereby the connectors are securely engaged and locked with each other.
Further, since the engaging projection of the second connector housing needs no construction (for example, to make the angle of the front end face of the engaging projection have a steep slope) for the inertial locking, a normal connector that is not for the inertial locking can be employed as the second connector, thereby decreasing the cost of parts. In addition, as a normal connector, a plurality of kinds of connector can be compatible with each other from the viewpoints of presence or absence of the waterproof rubber stopper and different total length of the connectors, thereby the degree of freedom for disposing position of the connectors and for connection form thereof is increased.
Furthermore, upon the connector engagement, the locking projection of the locking arm strongly abuts against and slides on the front end face of the connector housing, therefore the locking projection does not strongly press the engaging projection, thereby the deformation and wear of the engaging projection are prevented from occurring and the locking force does not deteriorate even when the connectors are repeatedly engaged with and separated from each other. Since the locking arm bends by a pressing force having a specified magnitude, the deformation and wear of the locking projection do not take place. Since the front end face of the connector housing has a high stiffness in the abutting direction, the front end face neither be bent, deformed, nor worn by abutting against the locking projection of the locking arm, therefore a large inertia force is exhibitted.
A second aspect of the present invention is to provide an inertial locking connector comprising: a first connector housing provided with a locking arm having a locking hole; and a second connector housing provided with an engaging projection, which engages with the locking hole, wherein upon engaging of the first and second connecor housings, a perpendicular front end face of the locking arm is situated facing a front end face of the engaging projection and the front end face of the locking arm abuts against the front end face of the engaging projection.
The front end face of the engaging projection is formed inclined by an appropriate angle equal to or less than 90xc2x0 in response to the magnitude of the inertia force.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the locking arm is provided with not the locking projection but the locking hole, upon the engagement of the connectors, the front end of the locking arm abuts against the engaging projection, and when the locking arm bends so that both connectors engage with each other by the inertia force, the locking hole slides well with regard to the engaging projection compared to the case of the locking projection, thereby there is no possibility that the front end of the locking arm climbs on the engaging projection to stay there, that is, the incomplete engagement of the connectors never takes place. Further, since there is no locking projection, there is no problem of the wear and deformation of the locking projection. The locking is implemented in a state that upon the engagement of the connectors the locking hole engages with the engaging projection and the locking arm is recovered to the reverse direction of the bending, therefore the resilient force of the locking arm is prevented from deterirating with time passing by.
A third aspect of the present invention is to provide an inertial locking connector comprising: a first connector housing provided with a locking arm having a locking hole; and a second connector housing provided with an engaging projection, which engages with the locking hole, wherein the first connector housing is provided with an arm for inertial locking and the arm for inertial locking is provided with an abutting projection for abutting against a front end face of the second connector housing.
A pair of the arm for inertial locking is adjacently formed at both sides of the locking arm.
The arm for inertial locking and the locking arm are integrally formed with putting a slit therebetween.
According to the third aspect of the present invention, a large friction force does not applied to the engaging projection of the second connector housing upon the engagement of the connectors, thereby the wear of the engaging projection is prevented from occurring and the locking of the connectors is always securely implemented with high accuracy.
Further, since the projection of the arm for inertial locking abuts against the front end face of the second connector housing, when an operator presses both connector housings in the engaging direction thereof with a strong force and the arm for inertial locking is bent so as to engage both connector housings with each other by the inertia force, the locking arm advances powerfully toward the engaging projection situated more rear compared to the front end face of the second connector housing and the engaging projection engages with the locking hole at a stretch, therefore the incomplete engagement of the connectors never takes place, i.e. the connectors are securely engaged and locked with each other.
Furthermore, since the engaging projection of the second connector housing needs no construction for the inertial locking, a normal connector that is not for the inertial locking can be employed as the second connector, thereby decreasing the cost of parts. In addition, as a normal connector, a plurality of kinds of connector can be compatible with each other from the viewpoints of presence or absence of the waterproof rubber stopper and different total length of the connectors, thereby the degree of freedom for disposing position of the connectors and for connection form thereof is increased.